The first of at least four new freestanding emergency rooms in the works for Amarillo will open at 7 a.m. today.ER Now, a 24/7 operation run by a partnership of area doctors, will begin seeing patients at 2101 S. Coulter St., north of Interstate 40, in a remodeled former Coldwell Banker office.

Business partners and doctors Gerad Troutman, Tom Basye, Matt Turney and Carl Paetzold joined together to co-found ER Now, a facility licensed by the state of Texas.

Another set of doctors will be coming on board for ER Now’s second location on an undeveloped tract on South Coulter. The land lies north of Hillside Road, near Buffalo Wild Wings, Troutman said.

The ranks of freestanding emergency rooms in Texas have grown to 160 facilities since the state began permitting them in 2010, according to an Aug. 21 Texas Tribune report.

“We’re the first in Amarillo,” Troutman said. “We only do emergency medical care. It really allows us to focus on efficiency.”

Pearland-based Neighbors Emergency Center has begun construction site work at 2103 S. Western St., south of Interstate 40 in the Western Crossing Shopping Center, and another group has purchased land at 3530 S. Soncy Road, in front of United Supermarket for ER on Soncy, according to corporate documents filed with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office and the Potter-Randall Appraisal District database.

“One freestanding ER like this is about a $4 million to $4.5 million project,” Troutman said.

Unlike Urgent Care Centers, the standalone ERs are required to have emergency medicine-certified physicians on site at all times, according to information from the TAFEC’s website.

They must operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, provide around-the-clock lab and imaging services and stock medications that urgent care facilities are not required to stock, TAFEC’s website said.​ER Now’s initial facility contains a full radiology suite, CT scan, X-ray, ultrasound and a full lab for testing services. The future location will contain the same, Troutman said.

ER Now will not be receiving any patients picked up by American Medical Response, Amarillo’s licensed ambulance service. But it will use AMR to transport walk-in patients who must be hospitalized to either Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital or Northwest Texas Hospital, Troutman said.

“Whenever folks walk in the front door of an emergency room, 10 to 15 percent need (hospital) admission,” he said. “But the hospital admission rate for people who come to an ER by ambulance is 30 to 40 percent.“We don’t want to create an extra step for those patients.”

Emergency center construction plans must meet state criteria, Troutman said.“There’s a lot of work, a lot of regulation by the state,” he said.

The building must air-condition different spaces in the building with separate air-conditioning systems, for example, to help prevent the spread of airborne illnesses such as flu, Troutman said.“I think we have nine air conditioners on the roof,” he said.

Both ER Now locations call for a staff of more than 30, including medical staff and front office workers, Troutman said.

Doctors involved in the second ER Now will include Patrick Kirkland, Chico Desai and Jose Cabrero, he said.That facility is in construction planning stages and should open in late 2016, Troutman said.

ER on Soncy Real Estate Holdings reserved the name ER on Soncy with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office in May, and PRAD records show the real estate company bought the property in June.

Managers listed for the real estate company are Robert Williams, president and CEO of Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System, and emergency room doctors Jeffery Foster, David Childress, Kevin Rickwartz and Michael Lamanteer, all affiliated with BSA, according to U.S. News & World Report’s Doctor Finder.

A real estate holding company affiliated with Read King Commercial Real Estate Services purchased the Western Crossing property from Paneye Realty, an entity of Panhandle Eye Group, in June. Read King’s website shows Neighbors locations among its Read King Medical Development projects.

Neighbors, founded in 2008 by a group of eight doctors, opened a 12th emergency center — and its second in El Paso — in August, according to its website.

The Pearland company plans additional centers in Texas in 2015, including sites at Port Arthur, Midland and Texas City. It also lists on its website plans for centers in three Colorado cities.

The construction timeline for the Amarillo Neighbors is unknown. A call to the company late Thursday was not immediately returned.

Reporter Kevin Welch contributed to this report.

Karen Welch can be reached at 806-345-3359 or karen.welch@amarillo.com.Follow Karen on Twitter @@KarenAGN. Read Karen's blog.